Supreme Court, which for the first time decided in a case that deals with global warming. The heavily divided court decided with an extremely small majority (5 to 4) that the federal government has the authority under a 1990 clean air law to cap carbon dioxide and other emissions from vehicles that are blamed for global warming.
Under this law, the Environmental Protection Agency sets limits on how much of a pollutant can be in the air anywhere in the United States. This ensures that all Americans have the same basic health and environmental protections.
However, in 2003, after a group of private organizations petitioned the agency to begin regulating the emissions of four greenhouse gases (including CO2), EPA refused to do so, invoking the fact that it… lacked the power.
In its historical decision, the Supreme Court wrote that “EPA’s steadfast refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions presents a risk of harm to Massachusetts [because of the global warming that reduces its coastal land] that is both ‘actual’ and ‘imminent,’, and there is a ‘substantial likelihood that the judicial relief requested’ will prompt EPA to take steps to reduce that risk”.
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